Music composed by Tom Doyle.
DADS! The Musical is an uproariously funny but poignant look at role reversal and the contemporary male, performed by three men and one woman – and one keyboard player – plus four babies (puppets). It features lovable characters, hilarious scenes and 13 high-energy musical numbers.
Suddenly without jobs, three first-time dads decide they will stay at home and take care of their infant kids while their wives go out to work. Charles Fielding is a suave, forty-something, jet-setting corporate executive with a newborn baby girl. Joey Dingle is a thirty-something, neurotic, burnt out Latin professor with extremely “enthusiastic” eight month old twin boys. And Kirk Thompson is an early twenties construction worker, with a four month baby girl. They all think they’re up for this new challenge, and expect that with proper “male organization”, they will enjoy getting out of the rat race and spending time at home with “time on their hands”. But this “vision of control” soon gives way under a barrage of sleepless night, colic, feeding problems, and a never-ending mountain of laundry and household chaos.
Will these self-proclaimed models of machismo survive and learn to love parenting and life again? Oh yes! Their struggles to cope are told through lively original songs, deliciously witty comic scenes, and hilarious dream sequences. The three male performers are matched by one virtuoso actress who plays all of the wives, the bosses, the psychiatrist, plus the “European Specialist”, an expert on sex and marriage, and the “fantasy women”. And their demanding offspring are played by ingeniously designed baby puppets who appear to drink, wet, cry lustily and spit pablum with great force. These endearingly ugly little creatures became stars at the Edinburgh Festival and have stolen the hearts of thousands of theatre goers ever since.
The 13 original songs, with showstoppers like - The Oh So Colicky Blues, Testosterone Tango, Don’t Touch Me, A Fistful of Pampers – are timely, topical and comedic gems in their own right. And they only require one keyboard!
The single set provides all 3 homes plus the common area which becomes the community centre or the doctor’s office as needed. Two sets of puppets are available for rental at reasonable fees.
Dora Mavor Moore nominee, Sterling Award Nominee, Fringe First, Edinburgh Festival
First produced by Factory Theatre
Keywords: Stay at Home Dads
- CBC Radio Toronto
“Every second of this fresh, fun production sparkled with joy”.
- Theatrum
“An absolute delight … bursting with energy … the songs are superbly crafted. I whole-heartedly recommend this show”
“Clever, zippy … Robert More’s writing is smarter than musical revue generally is”
- Globe And Mail (Toronto)
“Absolutely hilarious … a gem of a show … showing the nature of a changing society … It’s witty, it’s clever, it’s fresh. Dads has literally everything. Don’t pass on this one!”
“Dads has been written with such tender loving care that it’s impossible to resist its charms."
“Each funny moment carries you laughing to the next in this hilarious musical
romp …It’s a - ‘don’t miss this one’ show”
“Dads keeps us howling in our seats with such tunes as ‘The Colicky Ontario TourBlues”, “ The Testosterone Tango”, “Jungle Dad”, and “A Fistful of Pampers”
- Ontario Tour
“Stay-at-home dads never miss a beat!”
The babies are "played" by puppets which are hands-on and very easy to use. These puppets can be created by the producing theatre or rented from the playwright who has two sets of world class puppets available.